Saturday, January 14, 2017

The week that was...

It's been a lovely week at home.

Every day the rain arrives, sometimes a lot, sometimes a few short showers. The pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof, dark skies and heavy clouds, inspired me to bake an old favourite for Mr E - Shepherds Pie. Rain and comfort food go together, right?

Rather than spread mashed potato across the top of the lamb and vegetables in rich gravy I decided to veer from tradition and layer scalloped potato slices instead. It was delicious...

Blossom's washing machine died so we've had the blessing of extra visits from her and Cully May while washing is done from my laundry.

Isn't she adorable!? Five months old, sitting up all by herself and enjoying her first Milk Arrowroot biscuit (Poppy/Mr E's favourite!)...

I've managed to get ahead of myself with new designs for February...

...and caught up with my best friend Rosie Heather on Wednesday for morning tea and stitching.

In the past I've always referred to her as Heather on my blog, but now I can call her by her full name, Rosie Heather and if you read her blog post from New Year she'll explain why.

Rosie's stitching the Sampler from January's issue of The Stitchery Club and here's a peek at her progress...

One of the perks of being my best friend is that she gets to play with my new designs before anyone else, but the perk for me is that I get to eat her delicious baking at our morning teas when I take the patterns over. Obviously I get the better end of the trade because she does all the work in the kitchen and I just sit back and gobble it up!

This visit she made yummy blueberry muffins but I forgot to take a photo. Too busy eating?

Here's my original Sampler for the January 17th issue of The Stitchery Club plus the extra project/tutorial included this month.

This sweet little needle-book is cute as can be, and the wonderful thing about it is that all six of the smaller stitcheries on the Sampler can be used on the front, so you could make six completely different versions...

New members have until midnight of the 16th to join in time to receive this issue.

The countdown is on for Mr E to return to teaching on the 19th, so every day he's been working on our Jeep to fix an engine oil leak, replace all the air conditioning parts, and repair the turbo...and in the midst of our first real wet season in years.

The humidity and temperature here in the tropics this summer is very high and dreadfully uncomfortable, but my beloved is outside early every morning working alone on the task at hand. Fortunately before he went to university to become a high school teacher he was a motor mechanic so he has all the skills and experience necessary.

We didn't get to go away for that holiday we were planning after all. The Jeep parts took 6 weeks to arrive from the USA and it's a huge job to get the car back and running before school starts, so hopefully over the Easter break we can finally head into the outback or the rainforest for an adventure.

Life is full of unexpected ups and downs, but if you stay positive and make the most of what each day brings there's always joy to be found.

Just having my man home with me, being able to make him a hearty meal at the end of the day and laugh with him over the antics of our Cully May, helping Blossom do her washing, enjoying morning tea at a friend's home, sewing pretty things...that's the kind of ordinary which brings me joy.

Not an ordinary day at all, Jenny; one made in Heaven. Cully Mae is absolutely adorable, and you know we all feel as if she belongs to us, too. I so enjoy seeing the bits of your life and stitching. It's wonderful to have a best friend and share interests - and muffins!

It's always nice to receive feedback on a blog post, so *thank you* for taking time to comment!I will try to reply via email unless you are a 'no reply blogger' which means you'll have to check for my reply in the comments. Of course, life is a rather hazardous activity, isn't it? So if I don't respond to your comment that's the reason why - life simply stepped in...hugsJennyx